Italian Gothic Horror Films (1980-1989)

by Roberto Curti

  36. Elisa Taylor Ursi—not Elise Delong Valadler—in

  Anzellotti, Massimo Anzellotti; ChEl: Michele

  the script.

  Pellegrini; KG: Mario Pizzi; Generator Operator:

  37. Pulici and Cacioppo, “Daria Nicolodi: nostra

  Roberto Cuccoli. Cast: Bernice Stegers (Jane

  signora degli orrori,” .

  38. Ibid.

  Baker), Stanko Molnar (Robert Duval),

  39. Tim Lucas, Mario Bava. All the Colors of the Dark

  Veronica Zinny (Lucy Baker), Roberto Posse

  (Cincinnati, OH: Video Watchdog, 2007), 009–09.

  (Fred Kellerman), Ferdinando Orlandi (Mr.

  40. Argento, Paura, 23. See, for instance, the recurring

  Wells), Fernando Pannullo (Leslie Baker), Elisa

  element of glass objects which the characters inadvertently

  smash to pieces shortly before their own violent demise.

  Kadigia Bove (Sally). PROD: Gianni Minervini

  41. The detail, absent in the script, acts as a symmetrical

  and Antonio Avati for A.M.A. Film (Rome);

  element with Suspiria (where on the façade of the Tanz

  PM: Gianni Amadei; PS: Alessandro Vivarelli;

  Academy we had seen a plate celebrating Erasmus of Rot-

  PSe: Rosa Mercurio; PA: Francesco Gesualdi;

  terdam’s stay).

  42. Pugliese, Dario Argento, 6.

  ADM: Raffaello Forti; Cashier: Fiorella Bologna.

  43. Giovanni Grazzini, “Pregiata macelleria,” Corriere

  Country: Italy. Filmed in Gardone Riviera (Bres-

  della Sera, February 8, 980.

  cia, Lombardy) and Crespi d’Adda (Bergamo,

  44. Tullio Kezich, Il nuovissimo Millefilm. Cinque anni

  Lombardy) and on location in New Orleans.

  al cinema, 1977–1982 (Milan: Mondadori, 983), 20.

  Running time: 89 minutes (m. 2448). Visa n.

  45. “Un brivido che si chiama Argento.”

  46. Mereghetti, “Dario Argento: per fare paura ha usato

  74887 (3.27.980); Rating: V.M.4. Release dates:

  anche Verdi.”

  4.7.980 (Italy), 0.4.980 (Spain), .3.98

  47. Pulici and Cacioppo, “Daria Nicolodi: nostra signora

  (France), .27.98 (West Germany), 0.28.983

  degli orrori,” .

  (USA; Canada); Distribution: Medusa Dis-

  48. The box- office data of about a billion and a half lire

  refer to the grosses in the first- run theaters of the 6 “capo-

  tribuzione (Italy), Les Filmes Jacques Leitienne

  zona” cities (Ancona, Bari, Bologna, Cagliari, Catania, Flo-

  (France), Cinefrance (West Germany), FVI

  rence, Genoa, Messina, Milan, Naples, Padua, Palermo,

  (USA). Domestic gross: approx. 60,000,000 lire.

  Rome, Turin, Trieste, Venice), that is, the major cities in-

  Also known as: The Frozen Terror (USA), Baiser

  cluded in the “Borsa Film” in the Giornale dello Spettacolo.

  macabre (France), Macabro—Die Küsse der Jane

  As for the overall grosses, according to Franco Montini,

  Inferno grossed 4, billion lire overall. Franco Montini, “La

  Baxter (West Germany).

  fortuna al box office,” in Vito Zagarrio (ed.), Argento vivo.

  Note: the song “Jane in Love” is performed

  Il cinema di Dario Argento tra genere e autorialità (Venice:

  by Gil Ventura (E.M.I. records)

  Marsilio, 2008), 66.

  New Orleans. Jane Baker, a married woman

  49. According to the official ministerial data, it was seen

  by 2,42 spectators and grossed an amount corresponding

  with two children, has an affair with another

  to 88,86 Euro. (http:// infoicaa. mecd. es/ CatalogoICAA/

  man, Fred Kellerman. When her elder daughter

  Peliculas/ Detalle?Pelicula= 394).

  Lucy discovers it, she drowns her little brother in

  50. Nina Danton, “Inferno: mythic horror tale,” New

  the bathtub and then calls her mother for help.

  York Times, August , 986.

  While Jane and Fred are driving home, they have

  51. “I don’t know why. It’s a mystery. It’s incredible,

  working with the studios. Every stupid person arrives with

  a terrible car accident in which the man is decap-

  an opinion; they start every sentence with, ‘For me… ’ And

  itated. One year later, Jane moves to the place

  I don’t care what they think, I don’t care about ‘For you… ’

  where she used to meet her lover. The house is

  That’s not the way I work.” Maitland McDonagh, Broken

  owned by a blind young man, Robert Duval, who

  Mirrors/Broken Minds. The Dark Dreams of Dario Argento

  (London: Sun Tavern Fields, 99), 236.

  lives alone with his elderly mother. Robert, who

  52. Argento, Paura, 23.

  is in love with Jane, starts hearing weird noises

  53. Ibid., 238.

  coming from the woman’s apartment, and decides

  to investigate. Little by little, he discovers a

  Macabro (Macabre, a.k.a. The Frozen Terror)

  horrible truth: Jane keeps Fred’s severed head in

  D: Lamberto Bava. S and SC: Pupi Avati,

  the fridge and uses it as a sex fetish…

  Roberto Gandus, Lamberto Bava, Antonio

  “Why don’t you pay us a visit?” the man on

  1980: Macabro 3

  the other end of the line asked. “We have an

  Even though the theme of necrophilia re-

  offer for you, you know?” When Lamberto Bava

  calls two milestones of Italian Gothic such as

  was summoned to the office of the Avati broth-

  Riccardo Freda’s L’orribile segreto del Dr.

  ers, sometime in Summer 979, he was an expe-

  Hichcock (962) and Mario Bava’s Lisa e il diavolo

  rienced assistant director. At 3, he had learned

  (973), Macabro depicts a pathological case that

  the craft with his father, whom he assisted since

  has nothing to do with the grand excesses of tra-

  the mid–960s, and had worked with the likes

  dition. It is indeed macabre, as the title suggests,

  of Aristide Massaccesi (on Sollazzevoli storie di

  but also squalid and repellent, closer to the

  mogli gaudenti e mariti penitenti, 972, and

  antics later depicted graphically in Nekromantik

  Pugni, pirati e karaté, 973), Mario Lanfranchi

  (987, Jörg Buttgereit) than to the delirious,

  (on Il bacio, 974) and Ruggero Deodato (on Ul-

  dreamlike mood of Freda and Bava’s films.

  timo mondo cannibale, 977, L’ultimo sapore del-

  Moreover, Macabro develops the Gothic tale no

  l’aria, 978, and Cannibal Holocaust, to be re-

  longer in a mythical dimension, but in a domes-

  leased early in 980), and he had just finished

  tic one, as with Shock (977). In a way, the film

  working with Dario Argento on Inferno. “I was

  can be also seen as a late appendix and, in some

  very happy, and told myself, ‘Gee, how I’d like

  respects, a compendium of themes explored

  to be Pupi Avati’s assistant… ’”

  in the “Female Gothic” works of the previous

  At Avati’s office, Pupi and Antonio showed

&n
bsp; decade,7 but the mentally unstable Jane Baker

  him an American newspaper clip about a woman

  recalls Daria Nicolodi’s character in the 977

  who had killed her lover and kept his head in the

  film rather than the disturbed ladies (in black

  fridge. “Will it be Pupi’s next film?” Bava asked.

  or white) played by Mimsy Farmer (Il profumo

  “No, we’d like you to make it!” Within a week,

  della signora in nero) or Florinda Bolkan (Le

  Lamberto, the Avatis and Roberto Gandus had

  orme, 97). She is a very different kind of hero-

  written a -page treatment, and while Antonio

  ine than we were used to meeting in the classic

  Avati attempted to involve Medusa in the financ-

  Gothic film: not particularly attractive, a bit

  ing, Bava Jr. went back to the U.S. with Argento

  vulgar- looking, Jane is a disturbed housewife

  to do some reshoots for Inferno, as some of the

  who finds solace in adultery and will be haunted

  footage presented technical defects.2 While he

  by the memory of her deceased lover. The theme

  was overseas, Antonio Avati called him: Medusa

  of the “forbidden room” which hides a dark sex-

  had greenlit the project. Six weeks later, in No-

  ual secret, typical Gothic fare (see Cynthia’s at-

  vember,3 Lamberto Bava was shooting his first

  tempts to sneak into her husband’s quarters in

  film as a director.

  L’orribile segreto del Dr. Hichcock), is also devel-

  The genesis and making of Macabro were

  oped in a non- glamorous, matter- of-fact man-

  very quick, as was typical of low- budget projects.

  ner. Almost all the film takes place in the sub-

  The script was cranked out in  days,4 and film-

  urban villa where Jane used to meet with her

  ing lasted for four weeks. There was no inter-

  lover, anxiety arises from everyday situations,

  ference whatsoever from the Avatis, not even in

  and horror is concealed in the household object

  the choice of the actors. The female lead, in the

  par excellence, the fridge.

  director’s words, “had to be not really beautiful,

  If Macabro lacks the sparse oneiric and sur-

  and about 40 years old,” and the Liverpool- born

  real elements of Shock, it nonetheless retains a

  Bernice Stegers, who in that period was in Italy,

  similar look and directorial restraint. This could

  acting in Fellini’s La città delle donne, seemed

  be a point in favor of the thesis that Shock was

  perfect for the role of Jane Baker. Bava chose the

  in equal parts the work of Lamberto as Mario,

  Croatian Stanko Molnar over Michele Soavi for

  but the similarities can be traced back to the

  the role of the blind landlord Robert Duval, who

  scripts, which Bava Jr. co- authored and which

  becomes suspicious of the strange goings- on in

  carry a trace of his different sensibility.

  his house. On the set, the debuting director

  For me, in Macabro, fear comes from the inside: the

  didn’t feel the same inadequacy as Pupi Avati

  anxieties, frustrations, all the psychological disorders.

  had while directing Balsamus. “I had my wife

  I want everyone to be able to identify with my char-

  Rosanna with me as my assistant. I slept won-

  acters, because if they were unreal, that would show

  derfully the night before, and on my first day on

  on screen… . It is not a coincidence [that both stories

  the set I completed 28 shots, urging the crew,

  are similar] because it interests me a lot to take a fam-

  ‘Come on, come on, come on!’ They asked me,

  ily which at the beginning is normal and perturb it,

  ‘Why, how many movies have you done?!?’”6

  to create a Fantastic- themed tale from there. In peo-

  32 1980: Macabro ple’s eyes, family is what they can and have that is

  often featured weak, ineffective male figures,

  most normal, logical and real.8

  from the impotent dwarf in Balsamus l’uomo di

  Satana (970) to the dysfunctional all- male fam-

  Visually, the film retains the same ordinary

  ily in Le strelle nel fosso (979).9 The duality of

  quality, as the director shoots the story in a

  eros/thanatos and the theme of the amour fou

  matter- of-fact, unspectacular way: the fatal car

  that obsesses Jane are also developed with an

  accident near the beginning, for instance, con-

  eye on the grotesque akin to Avati’s films: see,

  sists of just two shots, the broken windshield

  for instance, the small altar in the woman’s bed-

  and Jane screaming. Bava worked with d.o.p

  room, which evokes Henry James’ story The

  Franco Delli Colli, a regular collaborator on

  Altar of the Dead and François Truffaut’s film

  Avati’s films, who used old lamps and projectors

  adapted from it, La chambre verte (978). Avati’s

  to obtain diffuse, intimate lighting: a very dif-

  contribution to the script extended also to the

  ferent atmosphere than the one normally asso-

  depiction of the dysfunctional Baker family, par-

  ciated with the genre.

  ticularly with the relationship between Jane and

  Macabro plays cruelly with the voyeurism

  her malevolent daughter Lucy (Veronica Zinny).

  of the audience, who is presented a case of

  In one of the early scenes Lucy is seen drowning

  sexual obsession (a woman keeps the head of

  her little brother in the bathtub out of spite for

  the deceased lover in the freezer and uses it as

  her mother’s affair, and during the story she

  an erotic fetish) that can only be depicted

  proves she has the same vein of madness as Jane,

  through imagination. Soon viewers find them-

  even cooking a nasty meal for her and Robert

  selves in a similar position as the blind Robert

  in a memorable dinner scene which fuels the vi-

  Duval—unable to see what is going on, and

  olent ending. Lucy’s delusions for a “perfect”

  gradually bound to imagine the worst. The char-

  family reunited (that is, her mother coming back

  acter of the blind man—a keen variation on the

  home with her dad, to an ideal but impossible

  blind helpless heroine as seen in such films as

  idyllic marriage), no matter what the cost, make

  Wait Until Dark (967, Terence Young) and

  her a disturbing little psycho, and a haunting ad-

  Blind Terror (97, Richard Fleischer)—brings

  dition to the gallery of neurotic children in Ital-

  to unsettling extremes the weak male figure, an-

  ian cinema of the period, well- played by the 3-

  other staple of Italian Gothic. Not only is

  year-old Zinny (Victoria’s daughter and Karl

  Duval—who repairs music instruments but can’t

  Zinny’s sister).

  play them, a symbolic hint at his ineffective-

  Bava wisely keeps the gore down to a min-

  ness—totally inad
equate as a hero, literally grop-

  imum. As the director recalled, “the violence

  ing in the dark from beginning to end, but he is

  had been played down intentionally because

  utterly helpless and vulnerable. In the early

  Avati’s production hadn’t wanted to be excessive

  scenes we see his elderly mother take care of him

  in any way, otherwise the story might have de-

  like a child, giving him a bath—and, even more

  teriorated into bad taste eroticism, and so we set

  humiliating for him, under Jane’s distressed

  all our story by the tension and the slow, relent-

  look. The sight of a grown woman helping a

  less pace of the drama.”0 Macabro is a tale played

  man as if he was a boy, with its emasculating im-

  on ambiguity, which builds anxiety through ret-

  plications, recalls not only Mino Guerrini’s mor-

  icence. Is the subjective shot that traverses the

  bid Gothic yarn Il terzo occhio (966), but also

  house at night a supernatural presence evoked

  such grotesque classics such as Ferreri’s La

  by Jane (after all we are in New Orleans, perhaps

  Grande bouffe (973) and Luciano Salce’s under-

  America’s most “magical” city)? Or is it a product

  rated Alla mia cara mamma nel giorno del suo

  of the woman’s disturbed imagination? Such an

  compleanno (974), where the image of the

  ambiguity is protracted until the very end. For

  mother bathing her grown child was pushed to

  the whole movie, we are convinced that Jane is

  mocking, black- humored extremes. Later, it will

  just a crazy delusional woman, who performs re-

  be Jane who will meet Robert while taking a

  pulsive sex acts with a surrogate of her dead

  bath, in an even more humiliating reversal

  lover; but, as Robert discovers in the frightening

  which further underlines the man’s sexual frus-

  epilogue, things are not as simple as they seem,

  tration.

  and the truth is even more harrowing and

  Lamberto Bava’s debut has indeed a notice-

  absurd. Bava claimed it was his idea to end the

  able grotesque quality to it, possibly an element

  film with a last- minute shock twist, and the sud-

  introduced in the script by Avati, whose films

  den leap into the fantastique is a truly memorable

  1980: Macabro

  33

  moment, which spins the cards in the very last

  Argento) and an eerie stylized poster featuring

  shot. A payoff at the limit of self- sabotage, it goes